Orion's Red One: Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is the alpha star in Orion, located in his right shoulder, most easily identified by its red-orange hue. Betelgeuse feels like the right place to begin exploring Orion's stars, though it's hard to talk about them in isolation from each other. Sasha Ravitch has said “the alpha star is the ambassador or the high kingdom of the constellation” and I do find that, of all the Orion stars, Betelgeuse is the most indicative of the overall Orion story. 

It's been a little while since my last Orion email and some of you are new (hi! welcome!), so here's an excerpt from that first one to reset the stage: 

Orion heaps his wealth on the feasting table in the form of carcasses, fresh and red, organs spilling on the laps of the guests, and there's a smile on his face, victorious. He is remembered, admired even, The Great Hunter, but the people at the feast don’t approve. The sword that hangs so suggestively between his legs cuts in all directions. He can’t tame himself enough to show up the right way. He is too unruly, too uncouth. His boasts get bigger and bigger until they offend the gods. He subdues the wild everywhere but in himself. No matter how skillful he is, no matter how undaunted, he fails to impress the court or stay in the favor of the gods. He is a storm. He is powerful but alone.

If you find yourself in this passage about Orion, you probably identify not only with Orion but also with Betelgeuse. My take on this star is at odds with Bernadette Brady's interpretation (which she is not alone in!). Brady describes Betelgeuse as bringing “unbridled success without complications.” Unbridled, I see. Without complications — hardly. Brady says, “A person influenced by [Betelgeuse] can experience success without going through a dark night of the soul.” No one I've talked to who has Betelgeuse featured prominently in their chart has managed to skip those dark nights in their successes. In fact, their successes have come at great personal cost and often they experience feelings of alienation as part of that success.